We're gonna get started with the NBA Finals that concluded last night with Game seven in Oklahoma City, with the Thunder crowned as champions for the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five season. The game featured a devastating injury
to pay the star Tyreez Halliburton. I'll get to that in a moment, but I first want to give props to the Thunder who completed the season having the best record and the best player in the entire NBA Shay Gilgess Alexander or as my colleague Malika Andrews from ESPN so affectionately calls him, Shay Butter, capped his historic season with twenty nine points and twelve assists in Game seven.
By the way, forty minutes just one turnover. He's just a fourth player in NBA history to win the regular season MVP and scoring title while becoming an NBA champion. The Thunder victory is also the culmination of longtime general manager Sam Presty.
Presty, who has been in charge since.
The two thousand and seven two thousand and eight season, has led Oklahoma City to the second most regular season victories in that span or in the league during that span. I like to start there first and foremost. I'm gonna start off giving some love to Sam Presty, because here's the reason why nobody was calling him out more than me. I respect the hell out of him. I think that over the years he's accumulated Hall of Fame talent, and
he's been in charge since two thousand and seven. My issue with him is that they didn't close.
One of my.
Favorite movies is really the opening monologue by Alec Baldwin. Always be closing, Always be closing, and that was something that we could never say about the Oklahoma City Thunder, and it got on my last damn nerves because throughout the years, I remember when Sam Presty had a team and I looked at players, the players that he's had on the squad, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James hard And, Serge Ibaka, Reggie Jackson, Victor Oladipo, Paul George, still having
Russell Westbrook, Okay, Carmelo Anthony. The list just goes on and on and on, but no championship show for it. Anybody else, somebody would be asking when we're gonna get the chip? When are we gonna get the championship. Well, finally Oklahoma City answered the call, courtesy of Shay Gilgess, Alexander and Sam Presty.
Deserves a boatload of credit.
They've got about anywhere from thirteen to fifteen first round picks in the very near future, and they got a championship squad. Now, that's the second youngest squad in NBA history to have captured such a feat. Only the Portland Trailblazers from the nineteen seventy six seventy seven season, led by Bill Waltson, was considered younger, averaging a little over twenty five years of age, whereas Oklahoma City averaged twenty.
Five and a half years of age. This is who they are. This is what Oklahoma City brings to the table.
Shay Gilgers is a superstar in this league, all right, averaging thirty four in game sevens. I'm looking at what this brother has done, and you guess you just gotta stand down. He's one of the best players in the world. And there's no way around it. It's just that simple. Right now, if you're telling me a top five in the NBA, you could make a legitimate argument that he's top two easily him and Nicola Jokich in the Denver Nuggets.
That's what you could do. I give you my top five a little bit later if you want me to. But that's where I'm at with it right now. Got to give love to Jay Dubb, Jaylen Williams showing himself to be that sidekick that any championship squad needs that Oklahoma City has with Jay gilges Alexander needing that sidekick. The only thing missing from Jay Dubb's game is consistency everything else. He's a legit six six sixty seven. He's
got a j He's got ball handling skills. He could finish at the basket, he can finish in the open court. He can hit free throws, He's got a mid range game. Plus, he defends. One of only two players in the entire NBA. Him and Evan Mobley of the Cleveland Cavaliers made an All NBA Team and an All NBA Defensive Team. Can't deny what Alex Caruso, you know, the elder statesman of this crew, meant to this team this year. Can't deny what Isaiah Hartenstein, who came over from the New York
Knicks last year meant to this team this year. Ched Holmgren is just in the third year. Look at what he's been able to do this year. You got cats coming off the bench like Wiggins and Wallace and these cats. Oklahoma City is loaded and they're not going away, and they deserve a boatload of credit for it. They really really do. My hat's off to them. My hat's off to coach Dagnault, who I thought. Listen, had they lost Game seven last night.
We all know what we would have been talking about.
We've been talking about what happened in Game one, how he changed the starting lineup before tip off for the NBA Finals even arrived, and.
We would have said, Yo, what the hell are you thinking?
But turns out they ended up getting it done, and props to them for doing so. It didn't come easy. It came hard because the Indiana Pacers were valiant and defeat they pushed this series to seven games, and if certain things had gone their way, who knows, we might be sitting here talking about them as NBA champions. But it was not to be. And that's where we go with the second subject.
We get to.
Tyrese Halliburn, the Pacers point guard got off to a hot start, scoring nine points on three or five shooting, but it all came to and with just under five minutes left in the first quarter, that's what Haliburton tried to drive left and his right leg gave out and he crashed to the floor in pain. He was carried off the court, and his father, John Halliburton, later revealed
what many suspected an appearent Achilles' injury. When it was over, Tyrese Halliburton stood on crutches outside the pace's locker room, welcoming teammates with an embrace as each one came off the floor following Indiana's one O three ninety one loss to the thunder. I know y'all have seen me on many occasions talking about Tyrese Haliburton and how he's no superstar. But it doesn't mean that he didn't have the impact of a superstar. It doesn't mean that he's not a
damn good player. As I reminded his father when he and I were talking followed in their Game six winning Indianapolis the other night, I said, I was clamoring for the Knicks to draft your son, and the fairness his father was a class act, very pleasant to talk to in the whole bit, and to see him crying last night was not a good sight to see, because boy does he love his son and he believes in his son.
And it's a damn shame that Tyre's Halliburton had to go out like that, because I'm here to tell y'all. If Tyree's Halliburton the way that he was rolling, we all know when he starts off strong, he usually has a very very good game. And last night he shot. He had three of his first four shots, all three
with three point shots. And when you look at what he brought to the table, I mean, the Pacers looked like they were gonna have Okac in some trouble because we all know that Okac's weakness is the half court offense, and sometimes it goes a bit stale, and they engage in iso ball by getting the ball to Shay gilges Alexander to come and rescue today and we know, listen, that might not have been enough. So I look at it from that standpoint and give love and respont where
is due. The Pacers them hard, Nie Smith, they got a future Benedict Mathren. I know he had some bad games, but he had some good moments. I believe in that kid. Miles Turner and Nie Smith seemed a bit like they the moment was too big for them in a game seven, But they weren't horrible.
They got some skills.
You could keep this Indiana team attack and they could still make some noise within the Eastern Conference. The problem is is that you're not playing next season with Halliburton. And don't get me started on TJ McConnell. Obie Topping had an awful game, no points, four shots, clearly rattled at the departure of Tyre's Halliburton, which he openly confessed
after the game. But when you look at TJ McConnell, ladies and gentlemen, let me put it in perspective, if the Indiana Pacers had won the game last night, I might have named TJ McConnell on MVP Game five the way he exploded in the third quarter Game seven. Twelve points in the third quarter, Yeah, both fourth quarters the only scored and scored zero points, had one shot but partially being taken out and having this rhythm disrupted by Rick Carlile, who is gonna rely on others because the
size and et cetera. You might take him out, but TJ McConnell was big time for the Pacers in this NBA Final Series, big time for them.
I got nothing belove for this kid.
I've known him since his days in Philly, that little either, little engine, that could, little rough rider.
He could be on my team any day.
Got nothing belove for TJ McConnell, and he warranted MVP consideration if the Pacers had won.
That's the truth.
But it wasn't to be because Doklahoma City Thunder was the best team in basketball all year long, and they showed it. And so it is what it is. They are the champions. Here's the thing to be concerned about next season. Look at this right here, y'all. Tyre's Halliburt and Achilles, Jason Tatum, Achilles, Damian Lilla, Kyrie, Irvin acl That's where I mean. These guys are gonna those three, those first three, Haliburton, Tatum, and lill Adre gonna be
out probably for the whole season. Kyrie gonna be out for most of the season. We're starting next NBA season twenty five to twenty sixth season.
Without those four guys. That is not good.
And the NBA a global iconic brand. Don't doubt it for one second. The NBA, you need them players. People love the NBA the world over, but we need those players.
It's a damn shame.
And I'm just telling you right now when you look at them, gotta tell you it's paying for to watch those injuries. I mean, Kyrie is a spectacular talent. This is a superstar player and the champion. We want to see him. Damian Lillard, we know what a closer he is. We want to see him. Jason Tatum is a champion of the twenty seven point per game scorer who's made all the NBA t the last four years.
We want to see him. And all three of them are out. Them and Halliburton are out for most, if not all, of.
Next season, which brings into question what Lakers coach former ESPN and ABC analyst JJ Reddick said when he was comparing old school to today's game and how pace of play wears and tears on the body just as much, if not more than the physicality from the seventies to eighties, the nineties, and right now it's looking like he's having a point because look at the injuries that we're witnessing.
Look at that.
Damn it was sad when I saw Haliburton go down. Broke my heart because I wanted to see a healthy Haliburton on the court making noise, and I originally he was playing so well, he played so well in Game six, I said to myself, I don't want to hear anything about injuries.
I ain't seen.
Somebody with a CAF injury move like that. And then sure enough he goes down in Game seven, and the injury was very, very earily reminiscent of how Kevin Durant went down against Toronto in that Game five where cav just rolled up the way that it did and Achilles tour painful, no doubt.
Wishing nothing but the best.
The tyres Haliburton, props to him, Congrats to him for the season and particularly the playoffs that he had, wishing him a speedy recovery.
God bless him, his dad and his family.
Hope they get I hope he gets healthy much much sooner than later, because he's a bright spot for this league. I ain't call him a superstar, but he can have superstar impact from Tom to tom. He's a damn good player and I wish him nothing but the best.
Now, let's get to.
The trade news earlier in the day that may shake up the Western Conference. The Phoenix Suns agreed on a deal to send Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Jalen Green Dylan Brooks. The number ten picking this year is draft along with five second round picks. The fifteen time NBA All Star now elevates the Rockets positioning for championship contention within the Western Conference. Durant joins the lineup that includes Alperin Chagoon, i'm In Thompson, and
veteran Guardfred Van Vliet. Houston won fifty two games under coach email Udoka this past season. The trade can be formally completed when the new league year begins July sixth. You see those odds right there, OKAC is still a plus two to twenty, still about four nearly four times better than the Houston Rockets. But that doesn't mean that the Houston Rockets are unentitled contender. As you see then the top four in terms of Vegas odds right there
or ESPN bet odds, because they should be. When you look at the Phoenix Suns. First things first, for those looking at them as saying five second round picks, the tenth overall pick, Dylan Brooks, Jalen Green.
You know, couldn't they have gotten more?
Well, Kevin Durant, there's like thirty six turns thirty seven at the end of September if I remember correctly, and he's in a position to sign a two year deal, which means he'd be playing and making over sixty plus million dollars, you know, approaching his thirty ninth birthday. My attitude is so what he's Kevin Durant. He's that dude you couldn't get, but so much for him because of his age and the fact that he gave you those choices that he wanted to go to. You wanted to
go to Miami, San Antonio or Houston. I'm still trying to figure out how the hell of Miami heat then prioritize getting him.
Now.
I know you don't want to give up Tyler Hero because you want Kevin Durant to play with somebody. So you want him to play with a Tyler Hero and a band out of Bio. I get that. But as long as you got those two, I don't give a damn what you got to give up to get Kevin Durant. You do it if you're the Miami Heat, because you got to be able to get something.
You got to be able to get something. You can't be in South to be squeezing.
And playing for the play and then you're going home the second game of a plan or the.
First round of the playoffs.
It's pat Riley, it's Mickey Arrison, it's Eric Spostra, it's the Miami Heat. We expect better, and you got to go out there and get those stars. And the fact that you can't or you haven't been able to close deals in it. It's just a reminder of what I've said to all of y'all when it comes to pat Riley.
I love him.
I revere him. He is the winner within. He's a champion as a players the champions a coach, he's a champion as an executive.
I get it. He's pat Riley.
But that doesn't mean you don't need to step upstairs. Sometimes I just say step down. I said step up, meaning having ameritis status, mingling with the owner, vibing, talking, conjoling, etc. And talking to the coach of the president of basketball operations, but leaving the actual responsibility to somebody else.
I think it's time to give that to Eric Spostra, I really really do.
But back to the KD deal, Phoenix one could argue they could have gotten better.
I'm not so sure that.
So they had to take the trade that they could get five second round picks, a first round of number ten overall and Dylan Brooks, who's a starter, and Jalen Green, who's a starter and twenty two years of age, if very athletic, if very capable.
He just needs his.
Skills honed in a bit better, no doubt, no doubt. And if you're the Phoenix Sons, this has to make you happy. Because Jalen Green could play, Dylan Brooks can play, the tenth overall pick is going to be a good player. You can matriculate, you can materialize something out of those second round picks into something worthwhile, okay, and in a way, and now you've got to prioritize getting rid of Bradley Beal.
Him and Lebron James are only two people in the entire league that have a no trade clause, and Phoenix wants him going in the worst way. To the point where I'm being told that if they can't get rid of him. They might sit his ass down or pay him to stay home, but they don't want Bradley Beal on the Phoenix Suns any longer. And if you're Bradley Beal, you got to think about how good that looks for you or how bad that looks for you. They paying you over fifty million, they don't want you, and they
can't give you away for a box of cookies. What the hell is going on? What are you doing that they got them questioning that about you? How this is not Stephen A talking. I'm just saying to you. This is what they're saying in Phoenix about Bradley Beal. There's no way around us.
So if you know.
That's your circumstances in your situation, you're not in much of a position to play hardball with anybody about Kevin Durant.
Now to Houston and Kevin Durant.
With Chagoon and Van Vliet and I'm and Thompson, who I think is an absolute stud. This brother's gonna be it. He's got star written all over him. To Barbie Smith, I think the Houston Rockets are in position to compete for the championship. I really, really do when ladies and gentlemen their issues was perimeter shooting, half court set, three point shooting, et cetera. These are problems Kevin Durant single handedly resolves. He's KD. He's KD. I know he's gotten
on me, he's criticized me. Man, Please, I ain't gotten up of love for that brother. Kevin Durant's a good brother. Heart's in the right place. He just gets sensitive some time, that's all. But this brother's all world player. Don't wish harm or nobody, and will bust your living ass anytime he on the basketball court and the balls in. He can do what he wants offensively. Nobody can stop him. He's unguardable. Ladies, gentlemen, let me throw.
You these stats up here because I want you to see what.
Kevin Durant did in the earlier part of his career and what he's doing now.
Throughout his career.
Twenty seven points, fifty percent shooting, thirty nine percent from three point range, eighty eight percent shooting for the free throw line, seven rebounds for sister. Look at his number was last season at age thirty six, twenty six shooting better from the field, shooting better from three point range might have done a little less for the free throw line, But.
This is Kevin Durant.
Remember the years ago when Patrick Beverly was knowing at him and stuff like that, and people were getting on him for not being aggressive, and he says, I could do this and I could do that, but I don't want to because that's not playing within the Florida game.
But I'm Kevin Durant. You know who I am. You know who I am? Yes, the hell we do.
He's Kevin Durant, and aged Town has got him. It's one of the places he wanted to go. He earned the right to pick his destiny. He's pulled it off, and now Kevin Durant is going to Houston. To me, that solidifies him as one of the top two seeds in the Western Conference.
And one of the top three seeds in the entire NBA.
I applaud the fact that man Anthony Edwards in Minnesota or, upon hearing that Kevin Durant didn't want to go there, refuse to give him a call to try to coax him in the coming I applaud that because guess what if the brother don't want to be there, it ain't gonna be nothing but problems if he ends up coming there.
So you got to make sure he wants to be there.
And if he didn't want to be in Minnesota, he didn't want to be in Minnesota.
He want to be in h Town. Cool. It's Kevin Durant. You know who he is. You know who he is.
But despite what we've known, we haven't seen him coached by an email Eudoka.
It's got roots with him back in Brooklyn. They know each other.
Email Udoka wanted this to happen, no matter what reservations everybody else had. Email Udoka wanted this to happen, and that is why it happened. Kevin Durant knows this. I anticipate he'll responding con to be the electrifying basketball superstar we all know him to be, and for Houston to threaten to take.
The west O case. Ain't got nothing to worry about right now.
They're champions, but that don't mean they ain't got something to look out for come October.
You feel me, You feel me